guilty pleasures

Bruce Hornsby’s hits definitely evoke a sort of hokey early alt-country fused with pop music. And yet, he remained in loyal to his hardcore fans. Over the course of roughly 18 albums in various incarnations of bands he’s fronted too. So respected was he, across the musical spectrum, he even played 100 shows with the Grateful Dead. Songs like “Mandolin Rain” definitely come off cheesy, but multi-layered. One cannot ignore the musicality as well as his influence upon today’s popular music.

For instance alt-country icon Ryan Adams (above) to The War on Drugs are undoubtedly outright or even closet fans to be sure. It’s a great tune for a summer evening — or a late spring one, thanks climate change.

It’s becoming increasingly clear that Superhero films can go one of two ways: The first option is a pure tentpole flick that will cater to the broadest audience possible with the already established and recognizable brands the likes of Spiderman, X-Men and the Avengers (for Marvel) and Superman, Wonder Woman and the Justice League for DC Comics. The second option is more niche, a little darker and much more adult. This was a trend that started roughly when R-Rated hits “The Crow” ($50.7 million), “Spawn” ($87.8 million) and “Sin City” ($158.8 million) proved such films could garner ticket sales. Columbia Pictures then turned “Hellboy” into a hit, and recent underground comics like last year’s “Ant-Man” and “Guardians of the Galaxy”, and of course this year’s super smash “Deadpool”.

I already wrote at length about how awesome the “Guardians of the Galaxy” soundtrack was, and how Director James Gunn oversaw the curation of a soundtrack essentially as a love letter to 70’s pop, rock and disco. It seems the marketing team for “Suicide Squad” wanted to glom onto such associations with their placement of “The Ballroom Blitz” into the tail end of their recent trailer (watch above). No, I’m not talking about the less-than-stellar Tia Carrere cover that was shoe-horned into an otherwise solid “Wayne’s World” soundtrack. I’m talking about the guilty pleasure hit by the English glam-rock band “Sweet” from 1974.

This song would essentially accompany a raucous high school or college party in it’s day, but also sounds like it could’ve been included in “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” soundtrack as well. Even the vocal performance by lead singer Chris Wright evokes pure horror-film schlock (or at the very least Billy Squier). The inclusion of such a track in the trailer tells me they’re aiming for Baby Boomer and Gen-X comic-book nerds and I’m curious if the film will cherry-pick some other 70’s era hidden gems? Rest assured I’ll be paying attention.

Okay Butch, you sold out. But it’s okay. You left us this wonderful nugget, this pop-punk singalong anthem. The Marvelous 3 was the short-lived brainchild of Butch Walker (Lead Singer/Guitarist), Doug Mitchell (Drums), and bassist Jayce Fincher.

With this scream-along chorus, you know during their short tenure, a bunch of kids crowd surfed, skanked and slam-danced to this song on many summer afternoons. With spring just yearning to come back here in the Northeast U.S., I find myself needing some more summer anthems to keep me warm. How about you?

Growing up in Ohio, there was a term thrown around for punks, goths and rocker kids. That term was – “freaks” in my high school. And so when this song came out, I definitely associated the song with me and my crew. And the music video got plenty of airplay on MTV.

These days, Butch has kept his solo career going. He’s softened a bit to more pure singer/songwriter territory these days. Lots of piano, acoustic guitars, but his voice still remains his best instrument in my opinion.

“Freak of the Week” happens to be the first One Hit Wonder I’ve chosen for The Guilty Mixtape. Which, coincidentally go hand-in-hand in my opinion. And I look forward to posting many more. Happy Weekend!

This song should not have been a hit. There, I said it. This song is a sort of anthem… for paying your rent? By Australians? In a bizarre chorus that I can only imagine is two roommates arguing about the world at large (“How can we dance when the earth is turning?/How do we sleep while our beds are burning?”) and their unpaid rent. At the very least one of them turns out to be the voice of reason!

Digging deeper, it actually turns out to be a protest song with the goal of returning lands to the Aboriginal Pintupi tribe. Which now explains the anti-Imperialist lyric: “Four wheels scare the cockatoos/From Kintore East to Yuendemu”.

What makes this song such a guilty pleasure for me is the raw, unpolished vocals that typified most 80’s New Wave of it’s day. Lead singer Peter Garrett does not try to “Americanize” his voice, instead accentuating the accent throughout. And who doesn’t like a song that starts with epic trumpet blasts?

Our very first submission comes by way of Rob Wolf, the Director of Social Media for Microsoft. His guilty pleasure journey started at a young age as his first two concerts were Donnie & Marie and Barry Manilow respectively. But even to this day, it’s all about “unabashed joy” for music as he puts it. He shares, “We’re all so damn cool these days, that no one can picture themselves just letting loose with a song and busting out onto the street where everyone else knows the lyrics and dance moves. I want to live in that world. And when I have my headphones on, I do.” We completely agree Rob!

With tastes ranging from the 70’s gems you’ll see in his Spotify playlist below, he also admits a love for Boz Scaggs and the soundtracks to the films “A Mighty Wind”, “The Book of Mormon” and “South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut”.

“Show Me Love”, the 1997 hit that Robyn penned with Swedish hit-maker Max Martin (“…Baby One More Time”) was a track off her debut album “Robyn is Here”. My girlfriend at the time had the CD and would repeatedly play it in her bedroom after school while we’d hang out. I didn’t realize it at the time, but this song would earworm it’s way into my heart. Today, Robyn has moved from Britney Spears territory into a firm Kylie Minogue-like existence with the dance-floor sensation hit “Dancing on My Own”. Today, she’s essentially moved firmly from the mainstream to indie darling with interviews in Pitchfork or collaborations with Norway’s electric duo Röyksopp.

I have no clue which back-up singer said this to Gregg Alexander while recording his only studio release Maybe You’ve Been Brainwashed Too (1999), but it completely sets the tone for the entire record. I bought this CD at a K-Mart knockoff store in my hometown merely because of the one-hit wonder “You Get What You Give”. And make no mistake, I firmly expected it to be a $15 single. I had no idea the riches that lay within. The opening track “Mother We Just Can’t Get Enough” still remains my favorite cut off the album actually. But front-to-back, this album brings piano-pop goodness that you can’t help but smile while listening.

If you’ve ever read the crazy story of how Gregg got this unlikely album made, it’s well worth the read.

What I especially love about the album is after the sickeningly sweet opening tunes, the album takes a much darker and interesting tone with the underrated “I Hope I Didn’t Just Give Away the Ending” which opens with a sort of slow vignette of vocals, drums and piano that reaches a fever pitch. The song is masterful storytelling, and ends tragically with a cup of coffee accidentally laden with coke (I won’t give away the ending!).

Other standout tracks include the somewhat psychedelic title track “Maybe You’ve Been Brainwashed Too”, or “In Need of a Miracle” (“Been All Around this Bad, Bad World/ Tryin’ to find some Tenderness”) and “Gotta Stay High”.

Really, this album is perfection. It’s not for everyone, but I think that’s why I consider it a guilty pleasure. It’s too poppy for the Bro crowd, but all the same you know they’re toe-tapping when “You Get What You Give” comes on the radio. And it will make sense when you realize Gregg lives on by co-writing a pop hit for Michelle Branch or a few tunes for the underrated film “Begin Again” by John Carney, the Director of “Once”.

Who would’ve thought Jeff Lyne’s biggest hit in the U.S. would be the song he dedicated to NASA’s Skylab Space Station? A looped drum sample from “On the Run” is the backbone for this clap-inducing tune. The album “Discovery” in 1979 was definitely where the band pushed wholeheartedly from orchestral space pop into pure disco territory. A few tunes of theirs leaned disco including “Evil Woman” (1975 – Face the Music) and “Livin’ Thing” (1976 – A New World Record), so it was a natural progression for Jeff Lyne to go “full Bee Gees” as it were.

While the rest of the album is certainly far too smooth and relaxed for my taste, the final track really brings an energy you cannot ignore. The crisp drum sample paired with the harmony driven lyrics is just… perfection.